Electronics recycling for Somerville residents

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Just noticed that Somerville is having an electronics recycling event on Nov. 10 from 9 am to noon. They're accepting a wide variety of computers, personal electronics, and small household appliances. They'll even have someone there to wipe the hard drive of any computers you want to ditch!

Details here (pdf link).

Comments

[ron_newman]

Thanks. This has not been well publicized. How did you hear about it?

[inahandbasket]

sweet!
Thanks for the heads up, time to finally ditch that CRT...

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I'm doing a monthly Somerville photoroam project, so I was looking at the city calendar for interesting events to shoot in November.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

You can also get rid of CRTs by putting them out on the curb with your trash if you call 311 ahead of time to tell them.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Thanks, this will come in handy!

[inahandbasket]

last I checked you have to go to the DPW and get a sticker for like $15...

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

For "white goods" yes (appliances, a/c's)

For CRTs they'll pick up two a week with a phone call.

http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/dpw/trash-procedures

[ron_newman]

Are you sure? That's not what the city website says. Maybe you're thinking of air conditioners or refrigerators or washers, which do require the sticker.

[ceo]

I have done this successfully, though it was a couple years ago.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Just for the record, I have recently learned that Best Buy will take old computers and peripherals for FREE. Just show up and hand it over.

Also, Rowan, the flyer doesn't say it's for Somerville residents only. Have you heard that somewhere else?

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I have no more information than you do. I just assumed that because this is being hosted (and presumably paid for) by Somerville, it's aimed at Somerville residents and businesses.

[squirrelitude]

I trust the city more than Best Buy to actually wipe data off the hard drives.

SSDs, on the other hand, can't necessarily be wiped, and really should be crunched up a bit.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't trust either of them to bother doing that. It's time consuming to do correctly, and neither organization has any real skin in the game, so why would they bother. IMHO, do it yourself before getting rid of any drive.